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Lotus Reveals Fastest Exige Ever: Meet The New Sport 380

The new Lotus Exige Sport 380 represents the lightest, most aggressive version of the British mid-engined sports car to date.
Not that the current Exige models
lacked anything in the aggressive department but Lotus knows how to
push further the envelope, with the new Sport 380 able to reach 60mph
from a standstill in 3.5 seconds (0-100km/h in 3.7sec) and top out at
178mph (286km/h).

Lotus says that their new supercar-killing machine weighs just 1,066kg, which is 25kg less than the Exige Sport 350.
This became possible with the use of lots of carbon fibre parts
throughout the car, with the Exige Sport 380 featuring a new front
splitter, revised front access panel, new rear wing and rear diffuser
surround made out of it which together saved 2.7 kg.

Additional savings came from things like a new polycarbonate rear window
(-0.9kg), a set of carbon race seats (-6kg), a lithium-ion battery
(-10.3kg) and a set of ultra-light forged wheels and grooved two-piece
brake discs (-10kg). Lotus even revised the rear fascia with a new
design that now allows only two rear light clusters instead of four on
the Exige Sport 350, cutting a further 0.3kg.

The Toyota-sourced supercharged 3.5-litre V6 engine has been updated as
well and now produces 375hp at 6,700rpm and 410Nm (302lb-ft) of torque
at 5,000rpm. The changes include a revised supercharger pulley which
increases the charge pressure, an uprated fuel pump, recalibrated ECU
and a new exhaust system to let the engine express itself more freely.
Lotus even enlarged the fuel tank to 48 litres of capacity, allowing
this way its customers to enjoy their Exige for longer between fuel
stops.

Another cool upgrade is of course the use of Lotus’ latest open-gate
design in the six-speed manual gearbox. This aims to offer faster and
cleaner gear changes, with the new mechanism said to eliminate lateral
movement with precisely aligned components made from lightweight
machined and cast aluminum. The gearbox itself is enhanced with a new
oil cooler. There is also a six-speed automatic gearbox option that will
become available in spring 2017.

The new Lotus Exige Sport 380 also wears a new aero agenda that help
increase downforce by a massive 60 percent over the Sport 350 model,
generating 140kg at maximum speed. This downforce increase though
doesn’t come at the penalty of drag, as Lotus claims it remains the same
with the Sport 350.

Lotus will offer the new
Exige Sport 380 in ten individual colors while customers that go often
to the track can choose the Track Pack option which adds a set of Nitron
two-way adjustable dampers. Pricing in the UK starts from £67,900, with
the new Lotus Exige Sport 380 asking from €89,900 in Germany and
¥12,760,000 in Japan.